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Help best android anrivirus for s3??

You can install AV on your android if you want to feel good and watch it go slower. Otherwise, download apps only from trusted sources and pay attention to the permissions those apps request.
 
I agree with everyone antiviruses are a waste of time i think like trucky said only download from trusted sources
 
If you are suspecting something, you can get AVAST for free and scan your phone. Afterwards, just uninstall it.
 
SUroot said:
My personal opinion is that they're not needed at all. But that's just me. I know many now subscribe to the opposite opinion to me
Click to expand...

Agreed.

Download from the android market/google play store and you're about as safe as can be. Google regularly scans the playstore for malicious code and theres even client side scanning as well for apps that aren't from google.

Read application permissions and ask yourself if they make sense. If they dont, its probably not an app you should be downloading. There arent really any viruses for android you have to worry about, the main malware apps just try to steal your data
 
I used to use pirated apps and both Avg and Zoner let me install what i think was an app with a virus (lesson learned)
What i think IS useful is AppBrain Ad Detector.
It just scans apps for ads and any potentialy harmful permissions as you download.
It errs on the side of caution which i like :thumbup:
 
Don't listen to those naysayers. I have an anti-virus, and I'm glad I do. It had warned me of malicious apps that I had downloaded and installed from the official Google Play Store.

The last time I checked, (which was last year,) Google had removed over 100 malicious apps from the Play Store. Many were not porn apps or free games as you would expect and avoid. They included titles like (and I'm getting them from an old news article) Super Guitar Solo, Super History Eraser, Advanced Currency Converter, Advanced Barcode Scanner, Password Safe, Color Blind Test, etc., apps with seemingly useful purposes.

I bought Dr. Web because it has the smallest footprint, (i.e., it uses the least amount of phone resources when running in the background.). It was cheap when I bought the license, but it has become a very expensive app. You want to look for an anti-virus app whose interface is the least intrusive when running in the background, uses as little power/memory as possible, and automatically scan every new app immediately after you install it on your phone.

BTW, one of the malicious app that was caught by my Dr. Web was Brightest Flashlight. It's a very popular app, and it is still in the Play Store. Just to be certain, I used other anti-virus apps to re-scan the app, and they positive confirmed the flashlight had a virus. Then I read through other reviews and found other users who had also discovered the virus and warned about it. Unfortunately their warnings were buried by the many more fake and ignorant reviews. I was glad my anti-virus caught it, and I pitied the fools who did not have an anti-virus and installed that ticking time bomb on their phones.

Link: http://androidforums.com/android-ap...t-free-4-7-rating-most-popular-malicious.html

Later I came across another malicious app whose name slips my mind at the moment. It was recommended by a prestigious business magazine. Supposedly the app connected to the e-verify database to screen job applicants for citizenship/residency/immigration status by checking their names, social security numbers, addresses, etc. I guess its real purpose was to steal people's identities with all the private information it received. Again, Dr Web caught it immediately. I uninstalled it before Google removed it from the Play Store a day later. Which again confirmed anti-virus apps work.

An anti-virus does not only protect yourself, your phone and your identity. It also protects other people's identities and privacy. Imagine if I did not have an anti-virus app on my phone, and I had used the e-verify app to input other people's names, social security numbers and private information. That would have been bad... for those other people. Malicious apps can steal your contacts, and spam them with emails and phone calls. So people should be responsible and considerate enough to install an anti-virus on their phones.

Here is a short list of recommended anti-virus apps:

Over 40 Android Anti-Virus Apps Tested, Only 7 Have Malware Detection Rate of Over 90%

So start looking into those seven. You need only one.
 
still disagree , had android for last 7 years never once had anti virus installed . only got my apps from Google play store never downloaded anything from any other source .

never once had a single virus , identity theft or anything malicious happen.

for every article you can find saying its best to install a anti virus i can find one that says the opposite .

if you want to make yourself feel better and waste resources and valuable battery life , then by all means install one .

i am going on 7 years experience which tells me i don't need one .

heres just one quote :
So is all this talk really just scaremongering designed to panic you into installing antivirus software? Chris DiBona, Open Source Programs Manager at Google, certainly thought so when he released an update tackling the topic on his Google+ account back in November, 2011. In it, he argued that:
 
Maybe viruses on smartphones have gained the potential to do damage over the past 8years though.
Tbh i dont know lol and i dont have much money to steal so its only damage to the phone i have to worry about and that doesnt earn hackers any money so theres probably not much for me to worry about but ive had AVG on my s3 from the start and my battery life and performance are fine so what i dont know wont hurt me lol :)

So are antivirus programmes needed on a pc and if so, what makes android different from windows?
(Just thinkin outside the box. I honestly dont know) :)
 
funkylogik said:
Maybe viruses on smartphones have gained the potential to do damage over the past 8years though.
Tbh i dont know lol and i dont have much money to steal so its only damage to the phone i have to worry about and that doesnt earn hackers any money so theres probably not much for me to worry about but ive had AVG on my s3 from the start and my battery life and performance are fine so what i dont know wont hurt me lol :)

So are antivirus programmes needed on a pc and if so, what makes android different from windows?
(Just thinkin outside the box. I honestly dont know) :)
Click to expand...

In Android, processes are sandboxed. Viruses are designed to do damage and a sandboxed process cannot affect anything outside of its own permissions. Which is why it's important to read the permissions before installing an app so that you know what an app is allowed to do.

Do we need anti-virus on Android? No
Do we need to be familiar with the permissions of an app before installing it? Absolutely.
 
Looking at that list, i used to use Avast but im pretty sure i uninstalled it for a good reason. Same with Zoner. Cant remember what that was though grr
 
To discuss the pros and cons of AntiVirus protection for Android devices is one thing... to jump to comparing that to the validity of the Holocaust is, to say the least, less than appealing.

I don't wonder why so many AV programs are free. That is done intentionally to encourage you to purchase the Premium version so you can get "all" the features you ever wanted.
 
ardchoille said:
In Android, processes are sandboxed. Viruses are designed to do damage and a sandboxed process cannot affect anything outside of its own permissions. Which is why it's important to read the permissions before installing an app so that you know what an app is allowed to do.

Do we need anti-virus on Android? No
Do we need to be familiar with the permissions of an app before installing it? Absolutely.
Click to expand...

Cool.
Thats why i use the AppBrain one. It even warns about apps from really big names just because the permissions have potential.
It just saves me from reading permissions. Im a very very lazy man :)
 
...so what about web browsing? We saw earlier in the year how that can harm smartphone data. Is there any protection for browsing or do we just have to wait until a threat is found and addressed indevidualy?
 
Are you talking about the loophole that did a factory reset?

Those are basically zero day attacks, and an android antivirus isn't going to affect it.

Remember, those antivirus apps are sandboxed as well. That limits what they are capable of. They can basically only scan signatures
 
Thanks man.
Yeah thats what i was talking about. I suppose that wasnt really a virus, more of a weakness that got exploited but could smartphones get the same kind of viruses that pcs can get from browsing?
And do any safety apps address this?
 
Don't know who's right, but I've had LOOKOUt since I've been using Android and have never regretted it.

So There!!!

JM
 
I'm not sure why it's such an emotive subject? If you believe AV is necessary, it's your device, install an AV app. If you're in the other camp, don't install - simple.

I've removed unnecessary comparisons and some bickering, lets attack issues, not other members please.

Any issues with the deletes, drop me a PM.
 
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